This bicycle has been updated - click here for the original version

Dear Jim,

Here's an update for my MB-Zip at No. 88.

This is my MB-0, aka MB-Zip, as of January 2008.

The drivetrain is now XTR M900, with cranks, BB, front and rear deraillerus and brakes for easier gearing. The hubs are still 7700 series DA, and the cassette is an eight-speed spiderless Shimano.

Shifting is now done with DA 7700 9-speed downtube shifters mounted on Paul Thumbies used in friction mode as it's smoother and quieter. Hubs are decent 36-holers laced to X517 rims. Tyres are Panaracer Pasela 26x1.25" tan sidewalls, but they're a little too narrow for my liking.

Fenders are Berthoud 650B x 50mm, and they're adjusted for a fender line with 1.5" tyres. They were a real challenge to install, and took me a couple of months, sending the bike to the shop to drill another hole in the seatstay bridge for a riv nut to bolt on the fender, finding the correct bolts, spacers, and rubber sheets to cut out spacers, getting the mounting hardware from Velo Orange, and forcing the steel fenders into shape. It's not absolutely perfect, but it's as good as it's going to get for now.

The stem is now a Nitto Technomic Deluxe, the bar is a Jitensha-Nitto flat, the seat post is a Nitto Jaguar NJS, and the saddle is the old Brooks Professional.

I swapped out the Shimano stock brake pads for Yokozuna Koolstops from Velo Orange, as the Shimanos were grating the rims and ruining the surface. I didn't like the shot-peened finish of the brake pad holders though, so I rubbed them flat and shiny with emery cloth.

- Alf

Singapore

ajchern at gmail o'com